Smooth everyday life in early childhood education and care

Everyday work in early childhood education and care goes smoothly when the work, the working environment and the working conditions are developed together. A well-functioning work community and goal-oriented management of well-being at work are also key to managing the workload in early childhood education and care workplaces. Competence development and maintaining work ability are also strongly linked to coping at work.

A well-functioning work community

A well-functioning work community does not come about by itself; it must be consciously nurtured and developed. Development needs are identified together through discussion and prioritised under the leadership of the supervisor. The entire work community is involved in working on them responsibly and actively. Involvement commits everyone to joint choices and solutions. 

Important factors that lead to a good and successful work community include the quality of interaction, clear roles and responsibilities, feedback, common operating methods and ethical principles – a common understanding of values and the right ways to act. It is also important that everyone can feel that their work is meaningful. Together, these factors promote the smooth flow of work and well-being at work.

In a healthy work community, the atmosphere is positive and encouraging. There is a good team spirit based on knowledge of the common goals, appreciation of one’s own work and the work of others, professionalism and the opportunity to ask for and receive help. Different views on work are valuable and a natural part of the work community’s operations. Discussion about the content of work and ways of doing it is essential for the development of the workplace. 

At best, different views develop the work, but sometimes they can create conflicts that hinder the flow of work. Excessive consensus may indicate a lack of trust and psychological safety in the work community, due to which people may be hesitant to bring up disturbances and disagreements.

Disturbances and things that don’t work are often intertwined in the work community. The cause of the disturbances should be rectified as soon as possible so that the situation does not lead to conflicts in the work community and, in the worst case, progress to harassment or inappropriate treatment. In such cases, it may be a case of unlawful behaviour that endangers health, by which point the supervisor is forced to intervene. A good Code of Conduct helps the supervisor and all those involved through the various stages. 

Everyone is an important part of their own work community. Good work behaviour does not cost anything, but its significance for the flow of work and the functioning of the work community can be invaluable.

Leading well-being at work

Good leadership leads to well-being at work. Leadership is co-operation in which results are achieved with the help of the personnel and together with them. Day-to-day management emphasises everyday leadership, managing individuals and groups, managing change and looking after one’s own well-being as part of self-management. 

Leadership is interactive. The supervisor’s way of interacting with the work community affects the achievement of goals. Well-being at work is promoted when the supervisor makes decisions whilst listening to the employees and taking them into account. Involvement, fostering trust and inspiring people commit individuals and groups to their work and create psychological safety, which makes it easier to bring up even difficult issues.

Leadership involves both rights and obligations. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, as the employer’s representative, the supervisor is obligated to take care of the occupational safety and health of their employees. In addition, everyone should promote good interaction and the well-being of the entire work community.

Health and work ability

Promoting and supporting health and work ability at work is needed throughout the career. The aim is to promote well-being at work and prevent incapacity for work. Health encompasses physical, mental and social health and functioning. 

• Health is relative. A person can feel healthy even if they have severe illnesses or limitations, such as functional difficulties. The assessment of one’s own health is influenced by one’s own goals and attitude.
• Work ability is made up of the interaction between the individual and their work and environment. It can be defined as a balance between functioning, resources, competence and the requirements of the work. Work ability is also influenced by values, motivation and support from the workplace and the supervisor.
• Physical, mental and social functioning and health form the basis of work ability, but are not always a prerequisite. For example, a person with limited physical functioning may have good work ability in work that primarily requires mental and social functioning.

Although the employer is responsible for promoting work ability at the workplace, its content and practices are agreed in co-operation and the measures to be taken in occupational health co-operation. This includes preventive measures, monitoring, evaluation and, if necessary, corrective actions. 

Early support for work ability has many benefits. It reduces sickness absences and associated costs and presents the employer or supervisor as one who takes care of their employees.

There should be ongoing discussion at the workplace about the work, workload, resources at work and factors that hinder working. This prevents and helps to detect deterioration in work ability at an early stage.

It is also important to recognise that every person’s work ability fluctuates from time to time. It is good to think about your well-being and identify situations in which you need support and help from your supervisor or occupational health care. Part of your responsibility is to bring these situations up at an early stage.

Taking care of one’s own health and functioning and lifestyles that support overall health lay the foundation for work ability and well-being. Important aspects include sufficient exercise, healthy eating habits, sufficient recovery and sleep as well as social relationships and hobbies.

Competence development

The competence of the work community consists of operating methods, processes, co-operation networks and combining the employees’ competence and professional skills. The workplace needs operating methods, tools and structures that support the sharing of competence. These can include acquiring and applying knowledge, brainstorming and experimenting with ideas in practice, collecting and receiving feedback and assessing one’s own work and results in relation to the goal.

Each employee brings competence with them: knowledge, skills, experience, networks and personal capabilities. This is supplemented by task-specific orientation and work guidance. Working in pairs and groups connects the skills of a newcomer with the shared skills of the work community, also allowing the newcomer to receive competence from the workplace in return.

Professional skills consists of having the ability to manage work tasks and work processes in different situations. They can also be tacit information that manifest themselves as operational reliability and a feeling of being in touch with the work. The person performing the work knows how to perform the work, even if they cannot describe it verbally.

Professional skill requires competence and a desire to develop at work. When the work changes, so does the competence needed for it. Updating and developing one’s own competence throughout one’s career is key in the changing working life.

Competence is created through learning that takes place in a guided and conscious manner, without planning or noticing. The majority of learning at work, up to 80%, takes place in interaction with others, by working and developing. Learning is best supported by a safe and trusting emotional atmosphere and a comprehensive network of different professionals. Reflecting on the matter with others opens up different perspectives and opportunities. This is particularly important in relation to matters that are new, complex or stressful.

The workplace must systematically support the development of the competence and professional skills of employees and work communities, both alone and together. Competence should be developed in a goal-oriented manner, and different practices that promote learning should be identified. It should also be ensured that there is time and space for learning, experimentation and reviewing and sharing what has been learned. Everyone should have the opportunity to develop continuously and diversely in their work.

The competence required for the work can be divided into general, profession-specific and task-specific competence. The training and competence development of personnel is facilitated if the employer has defined the skills and knowledge required for the different work tasks, for example, through a competence survey. The core questions are: what competence do we have now, what are our competence goals for the future and how will we reach them? It is also important to map out what kind of competence development each employee is interested in.

Eliminating work hazards and workload management

Work places a physical, mental and social load on the employee. A reasonable workload supports health, work ability, work motivation and work performance. The amount, type and intensity of the load and the related effects on the employee’s health and work ability must be monitored sufficiently often. Harmful workload factors can adversely affect health when accumulated, even if they do not appear to be serious as individual factors. 

If the employee becomes overburdened by the workload in a way that poses a danger to their health, the employer must without delay take measures to identify the workload factors and to avoid or mitigate the health risk.

Identifying and assessing the hazards and risks associated with work provides an overall picture of the state of occupational safety and health and the related development needs at the workplace. The hazard, risk and workload factors arising from the working environment and working conditions must be systematically analysed at the workplace. If the risks cannot be eliminated completely, their impact on the health and safety of employees must be assessed and measures must be taken to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. The decision to carry out a risk assessment is made by the organisation’s management. The commitment of management is needed to secure sufficient resources, to make decisions on the measures to be taken on the basis of the assessment and for monitoring to ensure the continuity of the assessment.

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Sari Aksberg

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sari.aksberg@ttk.fi

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Published by:

The Centre for Occupational Safety, Local Government and County Group and Service Group

Release year:

2025

Sectors:

Local Government and Wellbeing Services County Pedagogy and education Private Service Sector

Topic:

Employee Occupational Health and Safety Supervisor Well-being at work

Formats:

Digital publication